Saturday, July 18, 2009

Sunday, April 05, 2009

It's safe to say that after not having posted to my beloved blog in over three months, the time has come to officially close Phase Five.

This chapter - this PHASE - of my life was overflowing with emotions. The excitement of deciding to move to San Francisco. The sadness of leaving behind such great friends on the East Coast. The joy of connecting with new, wonderful people in San Francisco. The determination and stubbornness and anxiety and pride of marathons and triathlons. The adventure of travel to new and faraway lands. (Not to forget the monotony of traveling to Chicago.)

The pain of depression, yes. And the isolation and despair that comes with it. The shame of swallowing a little pink pill and the dread of having to talk about it each week. But also the hope after every 60 minute session, and the eventual happiness of realizing one day what it feels like to be HAPPY. Truly happy. And the gratefulness that comes with having a best friend in AER. For it wasn't until I met her that I really had any clue about what being happy really meant.

But also the warmth of falling in love. For real. (Finally!) The elation of meeting a person who despite all cliches and horrific un-feminist fairy tales, has made a lot of my dreams come true. Yes, they can be classified as somewhat simple dreams - to backpack in Yosemite, to camp alongside a running stream, to snowboard in Colorado, and to cycle... pretty much everywhere. But to be able to do all of these things with someone who after a couple of years still makes me feel like a teenager with butterflies in her chest.

Phase Five has been full of so much love. The kind I read and sang about, yes. But also this amazing kind of love that I never even knew I didn't know about. The kind of love that I have only ever found in JCB. After he's bathed me and helped me go to the bathroom when I had a broken wrist. After he's woken up at 4AM to cheer for me at my races. A love that I have never been able to adequately explain...

And for once, I think my lack for words is a good thing.

My mother has a favorite thing to say about me. She says I have a tendency to walk through shit, but that I also come out smelling like roses. Phase Five has hardly been a walk though shit. Quite the contrary! Phase Five has been so utterly wonderful that I'm not quite sure what I want to do with myself next.

Where will I be in five years? How the hell do I know? I haven't a clue! But I am certain I will be there with TLY (soon to be TLN) from Phase 2. With The Lovelies and The Guy Friend Club from Phase 3. Women like EIW and LEFS who have been with me through too many Phases to count... And AER and JCB who I plan on keeping by my side forever more.

Thank you all for following and being a part of this journey. I wouldn't be proud to be who I am today without you.

JCB and I wrapped up our tour of Spain with two days in Valencia and one more night in Barcelona. Valencia was great - we stuck our feet in the Med and had a good tour of the city, but for the most part, we were pretty tired of all the travel. And since we were cashing in on Hilton points and staying in an Executive Suite with complimentary snacks and beverages in the Executive Lounge, we did just that - stayed. We rested, hung out at the hotel bar, and really just relaxed a bit.

We made it back to Barcelona on Saturday afternoon, toured Gaudi's Park Guell, and re-visited our favorite restaurant in all of Spain , Cerveceria Catalana. It felt great to be back in Barcelona - after all of our sights, we both loved the city the most. Nevertheless, after 18 days on the road, we were ready to go home. I missed Puck and my new apartment. And JCB was really Jones-ing for a burrito from El Castillito.

We made it home on Sunday, late in the afternoon, Pacific Time. We ordered some Thai food - I was really Jones-ing for Asian cuisine - and went to sleep around 7PM. Exhausted. But Rested. And definitely delighted.

Four days later, after a week of work, Asian food, and Burritos, I am ready for another vacation! Where to next?!

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

We were both a bit apprehensive as our taxi dropped us off at the bus stop in Granada. Planes, trains, automobiles… and now busses. But Lonely Planet did say bus travel in Spain was more economical and often faster than travel by train. But as we boarded our Alsa Supra express connection from Granada to Madrid, our apprehension quickly faded. The bus had an attendant! She greeted us warmly, passed out candies, newspapers, coffees, teas, sandwiches… And we had wifi on the bus, too, slow as it was. Most would even argue that our treatment on Alsa Supra was better than our treatment on our United flight in Economy Plus. JCB and I might be even be two of those people

The trip was a little over four hours, during which JCB played games on his iPhone and I imported pictures from the past few days of our trip. We passed through some beautiful scenery in South Central Spain, but for the most part our trip was uneventful. We arrived in Madrid ready to explore. And of course, to also eat and drink.

My how different Madrid is to me now that I’m here with someone. I gave JCB a brief tour of some places I remembered near our hotel (we stayed in Sol / Cuenca) and we even found a few things I hadn’t before seen. We dined on patatas fritas (French frieds – in vinegar and garlic) as well as pimientos de pardon (fried green peppers) in Plaza Mayor, wandered to Palacio Royal, onto Templo de Judo, then back to Plaza de Espana, where we took in a large statue of Cervantes, Don Quixote, and Sancho. By now it was after 5PM, and Madrid was bustling.

We headed back to our hotel via “Gran Via” but first stopped at Cerveceria de 100 Montaditos for Round 2 of lunch. What a great stop! This bar/sandwich stop features 1 EURO BOCADILLOS EN MIERCOLES. That’s $1.25 Tiny Sandwiches on Wednesdays. Madness! We ordered a round of jars of beer and 4 tiny sandwiches and our bill was only 6 Euros. SIX! And since tiny sandwiches didn’t really fill us up, we had another round of two more bocadillos, this time with jars of sangria. Sangria from a tap. Amazing. Only 10 Euros for one of our favorite meals in all of Spain. No joke. Que bueno!

We unsuccessfully siesta-ed that evening. Not sure why, but neither one of us could sleep. Not sleeping was not boding well for the plans we constructed over Lunch Round 2 to stay out all night in Madrid. If only Spain liked to get the party started around 9PM instead of 1AM! I’m just not a night owl these days.

But at around 10:30 PM, we sat down to dinner at another great Lonely Planet find: La Gloria de Madera. “…oh-so-stylish, oh-so-good, and oh-so-cheap.” Lonely Planet can be pretty annoying some times, and they’re not always spot on with recommendations, but this time was a direct hit. To start, we had tomato soup with fresh mozzarella. JCB had a huge lamb shank with potatoes, while I had salmon with asparagus. For dessert, we basically had ice cream, but it had amazing biscuit-spinkles and syrups and a really long name on the menu that took up two lines. Needless to say, I don’t remember what it was called. Throughout the meal we sipped a crisp Ribera del Duero (red wine). And our entire excellent meal (in Madrid!) cost only 40 Euros. Can I get another, que bueno!?!

Sleepy and satisfied, we strolled back to our hotel, past drunk Spanish college kids and other crazy Madrillenos. I wondered to myself, “When did I get so old?” But before I let it bother me, I also wondered, “When have I ever been so happy?”

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

For the first time without our car, we made our journey to our next town. To Granada, by train. No arguing about how fast one is driving on the highway, about the need to actually slow down so that I can actually read the Spanish signs. And of course, no getting lost. We were only on the clickety clank regional train, but it was glorious.

We arrived in Granada around 2PM and took a taxi through the twisting, narrow streets of Granada to our hostal. Again, we were so glad to not be driving. 5 Euros later we paid our taxi and walked down the narrow alley to Hostal Lima, where we met "La Madre." La Madre was an adorable middle-aged Spanish woman who runs Hostal Lima. She does not speak English. However, she had no trouble getting her messages across to JCB and me.

This little woman carried our bags up two flights of stairs to our quaint room. She schooled us in the use of the heater, and then instructed us to have lunch at Bodega de Antonio. She drew a map, and essentially said, "Now go." By then it was almost 3PM, and Bodega de Antonio was surely closed for siesta. We never ended up finding it. But we did have luck scarfing down a few bocadilllos and beers.

We wandered around town, noting how many snowboarding shops are in Granada. Spain's highest mountain range is pretty close by, so it makes a lot of sense. And yet again, JCB and I looked at each other thinking, "I think I could live here."

Our feelings were only further confirmed after we stopped into a cute bodega for a glass of wine and were served our first FREE tapa. Yes, Granada is the last city in Spain in which the tradition of serving a free tapa with each drink is alive. And it is awesome. We enjoyed our wine and free food, and then headed back back to the hostal for siesta.

We slept well, almost too well. Happy to again be in a double bed instead of two singles pushed together, we found it almost too hard to wake up for dinner when 9:30 PM rolled around. But then we remembered all of the free food that was headed our way, so we got dressed and set out for Plaza Nueva, one of Granada's main squares.

Our first stop, Bodegas Castaneda, was packed with locals yelling for drinks and tapas. We enjoyed a couple of drinks and some basic tapas (tortilla de patata, jamon y pan) before wandering over to Antigua Castaneda. This bar was less crowded, which surprised me, because the food was far superior. In fact, Antigua Castaneda served up the best spinach and garbanzo beans we've had on our entire trip. We stuck around for a couple more drinks, then headed back to Hostal Lima to get a good night's sleep.

The next day, we made our way to the Alhambra. Atop a hill overlooking Granada, the sheer size of this Muslim Castle was impressive. We toured both the Generalife (gardens) as well as the palace and castle. JCB took an audio-guided tour that fed him all the facts about the building and city's history. I opted to simply walk around and take pictures and have JCB fill me in on the good stuff. It's kind of difficult to describe the Alhambra, so I'll just leave it up to the pictures...

After our trip to the Alhambra, we visited a Hammam for an afternoon bath. Baths, actually. We visited an Arab bath house! We spent two hours soaking in different pools of cold, lukewarm, warm, very warm, and hot water. And in between baths, we received massages with aromatherapy. It was a warm relaxing way to end our day.

Free tapas, the Alhambra, and Arab baths? Granada has definitely edged out Sevilla to become our second favorite town of the trip, just behind Barcelona. I wonder what's in store during our quick stop in Madrid followed by two nights in Valencia?!